Synaxis of the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God

 

Synaxis of the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God (Feast Day - May 28)

According to a Slavic tradition of unknown origin, the story associated with the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God dates back to the year 304 AD, when the city of Nicaea was under siege by an Arabic army under Amer. One of the soldiers of Amer, whose name was Constantine, saw an Icon of the Theotokos and threw a stone at it. Then he began to trample it underfoot. That night, the Mother of God appeared in a dream to the soldier who had perpetrated this sacrilege and said: "You have insulted me most grievously, and it shall lead to your death." The following day, during the battle, the impious soldier was struck in the head with a stone and fell down dead.

As we go on to read, this event was later mentioned by the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Synod that took place in Nicaea in 325, and they ordained that the following hymn, "Your womb became a Holy Table, bearing the Heavenly Bread, Christ our God; from whom everyone who eats does not die, as the Nourisher of all things has said, O Birth-Giver of God," should be sung before the desecrated Icon of the Mother of God, which later became known as the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God.

Though this is the traditional story of the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God, the fact of the matter is that it is not accurately told. This can be most easily determined by the fact that there was no Arab invasion of Niceae in the fourth century. Fortunately with a little research we can determine what the actual story behind the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God is, at least for the most part.

Holy Hieromartyr Eutychios of Melitene in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Eutychios, or Eutyches, shone forth as a true laborer of Christ and servant of the Church, both through his constant and fruitful teaching and through his blameless and edifying works. He was a vigilant and most skillful fisher of souls, and also their loving father, ready even to give his life for their safety and salvation. He was arrested and remained steadfast in our holy faith, and he received a martyr’s end: the tyrants cast him into the waters, and he was drowned in them.

2. The Holy Hymnographer dedicates many hymns to emphasize the Saint’s particular martyrdom — his drowning in the waters — while at the same time giving the spiritual interpretation of the tragic event: before his own drowning, he himself had “drowned” the senseless atheists through the power of his words, while by his death through drowning he also drowned the wicked devil, the “bodiless dragon.”

Prologue in Sermons: May 28

To Simple Folk

May 28

(A discourse about the shoemaker whom the emperor’s scribe found at midnight praying in the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos in Chalkoprateia.)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

To you, simple folk, our word shall be addressed, and this is what we shall say to you. In order to turn you away from the thought that one can be saved only in a monastery or in some desert, today we propose that you listen to an incident which happened to a certain inhabitant of Constantinople.

“One night,” he says, “I went to church to pray. At midnight I saw near it a man who, standing at the church doors, prayed for a long time and with tears. Then the church doors opened before him by themselves, and he entered in. After praying fervently in the church, he came out, and the church doors again closed behind him by themselves. Marveling at this vision, I followed him and learned where he lived.

A few days later I visited him and said: ‘On Friday I saw you praying in church, and I saw that the church doors both opened and closed before you by themselves; therefore I have come to you so that you might reveal to me your virtues, that I may learn to imitate them and through you obtain forgiveness of sins.’

Two Miracles of Saint John the Russian Recounted from an Encyclical Issued in 1978

 

Metropolitan Chrysostomos I of Chalkis standing over the sacred relic of St. John the Russian

Metropolitan Chrysostomos I of Chalkis, in his encyclical no. 1609/17-11-1978 addressed to the most reverend parish priests and the pious Christians of the Holy Metropolis, made known the following two miracles of Saint John the Russian.

1) “... Last winter, a Greek ship in the North Sea, heavily loaded with cargo, was sailing toward a port in the Low Countries. In the middle of the sea they were struck by a terrible cyclone. The radar stopped functioning. At any moment the ship was about to sink. The captain, an experienced sailor, saw clearly that there was truly no hope of salvation.

Someone had once told him that there exists an incorrupt saint, Saint John the Russian is his name, who grants whatever one asks of him with faith. The captain remembered this, and amid the storm of destruction he prayed to the Saint John unknown to him and said to him:

‘Great Saint of God, whom I have never known, tonight I pray to you, not to save myself, though I am the captain, not for the ship that costs millions, but I pray for these suffering sailors who left their homeland in order to support their poor families and who at this moment are drowning. Come, Saint of God, and hold the ship fast so that it may not be lost in the depths of the sea.’

Homily on the Ascension of the Lord (Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia)

Homily on the Ascension of the Lord 

By Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki

(Delivered in 2024)

“You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world”
(from the Apolytikion of the feast)

The event of the Ascension, although it constituted the end of the Lord’s presence on earth, in essence constitutes the beginning of the reality of the Church and of the grace of God within the souls of the faithful. Let us carry our minds a little beyond the historical event, to that place where the soul is truly refreshed, where reality truly endures, where it never ends and always leaves its deep imprint within our soul, becoming the true celebration and the genuine feast.

After the Resurrection, the Lord takes the disciples and begins to initiate them into the mystery of the Resurrection, to reveal Himself to them and gradually to draw them into dialogue with Himself as the Risen One. And while only a few days earlier their senses had perceived the Cross and the confirmed death, He begins to open their minds and to appear to them, as the Evangelist says, “in another form” (Mark 16:12). After thoroughly assuring them through proofs of the truth of His Resurrection, He gradually leads them outside Jerusalem, to the Mount of Olives. There He begins to ascend into heaven, giving them His blessing, separating Himself from them, while they, astonished, behold the now final visible separation from the Lord. Two angels say to them: “Do not be amazed; He who now blesses you and ascends into heaven is not merely the risen teacher, but the true Christ, God Himself.”

The First Ecumenical Synod: Description and Significance (St. Nektarios of Aegina)

The First Ecumenical Synod: Description and Significance

By St. Nektarios, Metropolitan of Pentapolis

Arius

Arius was born in Libya around the middle of the third century A.D. He studied in Alexandria and became a follower of Origen, of Meletius, and of Lucian the Presbyter, head of the Antiochian School. His broad education, his philosophical training, and his skill in the knowledge of the divine Scriptures made him very well known, while his grave appearance, his somewhat proud manners, his imposing stature, and his handsome countenance inspired in all respect and sympathy. At first, after leaving Meletius, he was ordained deacon of the Church of Alexandria by its Bishop Peter.

From this period already there appears the strength of his character and his persistence in his convictions. Later, when Peter of Alexandria denounced the associates of Meletius and did not accept their baptism, Arius rose up for the first time, reproaching what had been done and protesting against this measure of his Bishop. Consequently, he was expelled from Alexandria. But afterwards, when the mild-mannered Achillas succeeded the deceased Peter, Arius, having asked forgiveness, was received back into the Church, and in the year 312 was ordained Presbyter.

Synaxarion of Venerable John the Russian and the New Confessor

Synaxarion

By Monk Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis

On the twenty-seventh day of the same month [May], we commemorate the Venerable John the Russian, the New Confessor, whose divine relic, having been brought from Asia Minor, is preserved incorrupt in New Prokopi on the island of Euboea.

Verses

The captive appeared full of graces,
Having taken captive the ruler of darkness.
On the twenty-seventh John was taken from here unto God.

This man lived in the eighteenth century, having been born in a certain village of what is called Little Russia, from pious parents, by whom he was raised in a God-loving manner in piety and honorable morals. Having reached manhood, he entered military service during the reign in Russia of Peter the Great, who, having undertaken war against the Turks, was defeated, and very many of the soldiers became captives to the neighboring Tatars, among whom was also John. Having been sold to a certain Ottoman cavalry commander, he was led by him to a certain town whose name was Prokopion, situated a day’s journey from Caesarea in Cappadocia.

Venerable John the Russian in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Russia may boast of its remarkable offspring, Saint John; Asia Minor may exalt because in its land the holiness of the Venerable Father was manifested; New Prokopi on the island of Euboea may shine radiantly because there his grace-flowing relic came to rest; yet all the faithful throughout the whole earth celebrate the great Venerable New Confessor. And this is because our saints are the boast and blessing of all the Orthodox everywhere on earth. A saint, that is, may have been “bound” to a certain place while he lived in this life, yet in the end he belongs to the whole Church, which means that every believer can regard the saint as his own, can have him as friend and protector, brother and father. The good Hymnographer of the Venerable one, the sacred teacher Joseph from Kermeira of Cappadocia, repeatedly comes and emphasizes this truth to us through his service:

“Rejoice, most excellent offspring of Russia and honored praise of all the faithful without exception” (Lity).

“Your homeland Russia boasts of your swaddling clothes, while the Asiatic land rejoices in your holy relic” (Second Apolytikion).

Yet: “Come then, all you Orthodox, let us celebrate his divine memory” (Doxastikon of the Lity).

Prologue in Sermons: May 27

From Unrighteous Wealth You Will Not Be Happy

May 27

(A discourse of Saint John Chrysostom concerning those who take garments from orphans.)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

People driven by greed do not distinguish whether the means by which they increase their wealth are sinful or not. Their only goal is to obtain money, and everything else means nothing to them. And because of this, orphans are often left hungry because of them, widows suffer distress, and debtors robbed by them weep. Yet the hard-hearted rich pay no attention to this and continue their work. What do you think, brethren? Will all the evil that greedy men do pass without punishment or not? Will the Lord require from them the tears of the unfortunate, or will He not require them? How should we look upon this?